Lipstick
by Livvie
Summary: I wrote this a while ago, when Vince first put Stephanie in a match with Sable. This is a completely different take on what happened. HunterSteph-centric.


This arena was pure trash.  
  
She didn't even have her own dressing room. She was stuck using one of the communal locker rooms. How…archaic. It was so beneath her.  
  
Sable stared at her reflection, pursing her lips. Another coat of lipstick was needed. She looked down at the counter, hunting for the tube. Her hand knocked over her cosmetics bag and the contents fell to the floor. She stooped down to pick everything up, ignoring how sore her back was from earlier.  
  
Stephanie had been crazed, screaming, clawing at her like a wild animal.  
  
She hadn't…anticipated that. Stephanie had seemed so controlled, so calm most of the time she'd interacted with her. Of course she'd known Stephanie had a temper, she'd seen her in action personally.   
  
She'd just never been on the receiving end and she had to admit…  
  
She wasn't comfortable about it. It had scared her, a little bit. All of that violence, that rage directed toward her.  
  
Damn Vince anyway! What was he doing, giving her a match at Vengeance with his crazed daughter?  
  
She hated the way her fingers were suddenly trembling on the mascara tube she'd just found. She looked around for the lipstick, brushing her hair away from her face. She caught a flash of gold, the color of the plating on the tube from underneath one of the benches.  
  
Great. Just great. She crawled underneath the bench, scooting closer. That was when she heard the soft clicking of the door open. There was a long pause outside the door, it hadn't shut. Damn! She didn't want anyone to see her like this, crawling around on the floor. She rolled her body underneath the bench, hoping whoever it was would just leave.  
  
There was a low laugh, and Sable froze.  
  
Stephanie. That was Stephanie's laugh.  
  
Sable inhaled softly, pulling herself tighter against the wall, further out of sight.  
  
"Hunter…"  
  
Sable couldn't stop the soft gasp from escaping. What. The. Hell?  
  
"You were frightening tonight." Low murmur and it was him, it was him, Sable couldn't believe it. She bit her lip hard.  
  
"I was?"  
  
"Yeah. I loved it. You've been playing it so safe lately, Princess."  
  
"You know that I have to Hunter, if we're going to get what we want."  
  
"I know. But—it was just nice to see 'my girl' out there again, screaming her little heart out." Hunter laughed, and Sable couldn't seem to stop blinking.  
  
"Shut up." But it was said teasingly, lightly, carelessly.   
  
"Vince, making that match tonight. We weren't counting on that." Hunter said to Stephanie, and Sable cringed as his voice grew closer, and her eyes widened as his legs came into view, followed by Stephanie's. The bench creaked as Hunter sat directly over her, his legs in front of her waist. There was no where to go, but she was hidden so long as he didn't look directly down.  
  
"No, we weren't. But it doesn't matter."  
  
"It doesn't?"   
  
"No, not in the least. Hunter. Don't tell me you're worried about me, not with that…that thing?"  
  
Sable gritted her teeth soundlessly.  
  
"If it were fair, one-on-one? You'd kick her ass. But…Vince isn't going to play fair, Steph. You have to know that." Hunter took Stephanie's hand, drew her to a seated position next to him.   
  
"He's going to make this match have some kind of stipulation, something that'll work to Sable's benefit, isn't he." Stephanie said, but it wasn't really a question.  
  
"Undoubtedly."  
  
"No matter what happens…I'm not going to let you get hurt. When I saw Show, last week…"  
  
"Shh, baby, shh. We talked about this. I'm okay."  
  
"I know—but it was so close."  
  
"Zach came, Kurt helped…even Brock! I'm fine!"  
  
"I never thought I'd be grateful to those…"  
  
"Shhh!" Stephanie laughed. "You and I don't get nearly enough time together. Let's make the most of it."  
  
"That's going to change soon. Soon, we'll have this damn company, and Vince'll retire somewhere."  
  
"Lock the door."  
  
"I did when we came in." Smooth, rolling voice and...Oh, God, Sable thought.   
  
They weren't going to…  
  
"You're such a boy scout. Always prepared."  
  
"You know it, Princess."  
  
Sable lay utterly still underneath the bench, her mind racing through what she had just heard, blocking out the sounds above her, ignoring the legs dangling.   
  
Stephanie and Hunter…were together. Again. Plotting…God only knew what against Vince.  
  
Minutes later, Sable listened as two pairs of footsteps echoed out of the room, the door shutting behind them. She waited a full minute, then shakily rolled out from underneath the bench.  
  
She stared at the tiny lipstick still clutched in her hand.   
  
Smiled. She'd just gotten her 'in' with Vince, finally.   
  
And all because of a damn tube of lipstick.


End file.
